Even if it's Storming
by Musiclovesbest
Summary: A storm rolls into the Palm Woods and a certain dark haired boy awakes. It's nothing new and so Logan goes about how he normal does. Until he discovers that someone else has unintentionally joined him on that dark and stormy night.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize**

He shot up, breathing hard, with his heart pounding against his chest. It took a few seconds of looking around the messy room that he shared with Kendall before realizing it was only a nightmare. He flopped back against the pillows, closing his eyes and taking deep, calming breaths, running a hand through his bed head.

Logan knew there was no way he was going to go back to sleep. A loud crash of thunder that shook the apartment only confirmed it. He had never liked thunder-storms, sure he had calmed down since he was a kid, but he still couldn't sleep whenever he woke to a thunderstorm. If there was one before he went to bed he wouldn't even try until it was over. He would usually do laundry or some other house work, trying to help out around the house, and take his mind off of the powerful force of nature that he refused to admit still scared him.*

Tonight he was too tired to do much of anything, the nightmare had left him drained, a restless sleep is not much sleep at all. The clock next to his bed read two in the morning meaning there was still hours to go before the sun even begun to rise. He would regain his energy sooner or later but for now he would just have a hot cup of tea and pray for the storm to finish before it was too late to go back to sleep.

He quietly slipped out of the room, managing to avoid the few things that he and Kendall left lying around on the floor. After almost a year he had finally mastered the art of getting past Kendall. Yeah, he was a heavy sleeper, but Kendall had some type of sixth sense when it came to Logan sneaking out of the room late at night. Even going to the bathroom warranted Kendall waking and questioning Logan on where he was going. It didn't help that Logan usually ended tripping over something one of them had left lying on the floor. Tonight it seemed God was on his side, he made it out of the room quietly and somehow Kendall didn't wake.

He tip-toed out of the room, softly shutting the door behind him before made his way to the swirly slide at the end of the hall. He walked down instead of sliding, afraid it might make the squeaky noise it sometimes did, whenever someone slid down. It might have been thundering, but he was still trying to be quiet. Practice makes perfect.

The wood floor was cold, but it didn't bother Logan. It helped calm him, he didn't know why, maybe because all the floors in the house that still haunted him were carpeted, but this one, his home with his family, had wood floors. Wood floors that were cool and hard, instead of warm and soft. Wood floors that were easy to clean and, therefore, you wouldn't get in trouble if something spilled, unlike the carpets in which anything spilled, stained. Much like how the house was a stain in Logan's heart and mind.

A flash of lighting and a loud crash of thunder made the apartment shake once again. Thankfully he was the lightest sleeper; it took a lot more to wake the other guys up, especially Carlos. He might be the most active, even in his sleep, (one of the reason's Logan couldn't room with Carlos, he moved a lot in his sleep. Tossing and turning, but he also sleeps walks and talks) but Carlos could sleep through a hurricane. He was almost always the last one up in the mornings. They once had to dump a bucket of cold water on him, but all that had done was make his sister upset because she had to do more laundry. They had finally got him up after James had threatened to paint his helmet pink with flowers on it. He had to basically scream it in Carlos' ear, but all the same Carlos had got up.

He shuffled across the floor into the kitchen, planning on making some tea. Key word, planning. The thunder had stopped for a minute and the rain had slowed, it quieted and suddenly Logan could hear it.

Small sobs, the sound of someone crying.

Logan quietly moved toward the noise, squinting through the darkness. He was able to make out a small figure sitting on the couch. "Katie?" He quietly asked, a flash of lighting lit the room as she looked up.

She was a mess.

Of course she was still pretty, but she didn't look like the strong confident girl that Logan had come to love like a sister. Tears streamed down her face, and her hair was a mess even pulled back into a ponytail. "Logan?" There was a quaver in her voice.

He abandoned his plan for tea and instead moved to join her, quickly sitting down beside her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "What's the matter?" Unlike the other guys, Logan was able to keep his head when something was wrong with someone. In other words he wouldn't ask twenty question, one right after another, he gave her time to speak.

"It's nothing." She wiped away the tears that were still falling down her face, only to have new ones replace them.

He pulled her into a hug, "It obviously is _not_ nothing."

"Well then it's a long story."

Logan held her out at arm's length and smiled, "I have time. Want some hot chocolate?"

Katie smiled through her tears and nodded. Logan got up and put the kettle on the stove. He got the cups ready (tea for him and hot chocolate for her) before coming back over to the couch. He grabbed the blanket of the back of the couch and threw it over Katie's shaking form. He knew she probably wasn't cold, but it was chilly and she only wore shorts and a tank top to bed. The future doctor didn't want her getting sick.

The water didn't take long to warm and soon enough Logan was walked back to the couch with both cups in hand. He gave the hot chocolate to Katie and set his tea down on the coffee table after taking a quick sip.

Katie had stopped crying and was currently staring at the rain as it stream down the windows, jumping every now and then when a loud crash of thunder suddenly sounded. Logan sat and watched her, patiently waiting for her to begin the 'long' story on why he had found her sitting out on the couch crying in the middle of a storm.

Katie was smart for her age, coming up with ingenious plans that usually ended either in complete disaster or just as planned, but she was not quite as smart when it came to realizing that she didn't need to act big and tough all the time. Logan was the mature one in the group. Of course there were the times when he acted like a teenager, but he was usually the voice of reason amongst the boys. He was also there for anyone who needed to talk about their problems.

"It's just a dream." It had been quiet except for the occasional thunder claps and when Katie had sudden started talking he had jumped a little, but he was quick to look at her even as she continued to look out the window. "It's nothing to be scared of, really. It's not that I'm even scared, well maybe I am. I don't know it's just hard to explain." She sighed and suddenly her eye sight had gone hazy as tears welled up.

"Well, how about you tell me the dream. Maybe that will help?" He put a comforting hand on her arm, hoping to get her to look at him, but to no avail.

"It starts off with that picture of all of us that we got last year, you know the one of us standing in front of the Hollywood sign. It's just the picture, nothing else. Then slowly people start to disappear. Carlos… James...you. It's just me, mom, and Kendall." She trailed off, thinking for a minute and trying to compose herself. "Then someone starts to appear in the picture. It's a man. I don't think I know him but he's there. It's almost like a family picture, with a mom, dad, and their children. I feel wonderful at the thought that maybe we'll get to be a whole family one day."

She smiles a little, but it is quickly replaced by another frown. "Suddenly me, mom and Kendall are all in the living room back in Minnesota. But there's another man with us. It starts out nice and we act like a real family. Then it starts to changes." She trails off and suddenly her eyes are sparkling with unshed tears. Logan can tell that this the start of the reason he had found her crying, alone, in the middle of the night. What ever happened next was the reason for them being down here on a stormy night.

Logan wrapped Katie in another hug, but he didn't let her go this time. He let her melt into his protective embrace, as if he was trying to hide her from her fears. He didn't rush her but let her curl closer to him and let that brother like protectiveness comfort her. "Suddenly...I'm on the floor. Mom's in the corner crying and Kendall's standing over me. The pain...it...it felt so real." Suddenly the tears are spilling over and she's fighting to catch her breath. She jumps as another crash of thunder rattled the windows. " He...The man...The guy...tha-that was...suppose to be...my father...he...he...he...he beat us. He was abusive!" It was hard to understand her as she gasped for breath, but Logan had somehow been able to understand, and it only mad him wish he hadn't.

She had dreamed of being abused. Logan had been through that, he had revealed his secret in front of her those four years ago. He had spoken of all the horrible thing that had happened and must of had gone into too much detail. He could only image how bad her dreams were, and it was all his fault.

Suddenly Logan had tears silently streaming down his face as well. He held Katie close, hugging her like he would never let her go, holding her if he could take away her nightmares and take them for himself.

She must have taken it the wrong way because suddenly she was stammering through another explanation "I'm so sorry Logan. I shouldn't be so upset. You've actually been through it and I just had a dream and I'm just over reacting. I'm so sorry! I...I..." She was hyperventilating.

"Katie. Relax. I'm not mad." Logan rubbed her back still keeping her close. It might have just been a dream but it must have seemed so real. "Katie, it's okay. I understand. Breath, it's okay. Everything is okay. No one will ever hurt you. I promise." When one of the boys promised something, everyone knew that the promise would be kept. It was something that they prided themselves on. They were a trustworthy group and they were well known for keeping their word back in Minnesota.

She slowly calmed down. The storm following her lead, as you could hear the thunder moving into the distance and her sobs turn into hiccups.

When she had finally relaxed Logan turned her head to look at him, wanting her to understand everything he was about to say. "Katie, I could never be mad at you. I understand. It might have just been a dream but I understand. Even if you have never been through it, I went into enough detail that night that your mind must have been able to imagine how bad it was. Never, never, think that I would be mad at you for a dream." He pulled her into another hug, only letting go just enough for her to move around and get comfortable.

"Logan?" She asked as she leaned against him, her head resting on his shoulder, her breathing slowly evening out.

"Yeah?"

"Thank...you." And suddenly she was asleep.

After a while he joined her in the land of a dreamless sleep. Neither one of them had finished their drinks, but they had finished their stories and the events of the night caught up with them. The dreamed of nothing and it was one of the best things either one of them could have asked for. The storm had finally passed.

The next morning, it was still raining. 2J was a comfortable, cool temperature. It was quiet as the residents slowly woke up on the muffled quiet that was a Saturday morning.

The first sight that Mrs. Knight was greeted with that morning, as she shuffled into the kitchen to get her early morning cup of coffee that would signal the start the day, was sleeping Katie curled up against an equally asleep Logan as he leaned back on the couch. His arm was wrapped protectively around her shoulders as his head rested against the back of the couch, which would lead to a sore neck for the rest of the day.

She made sure every else came down quietly, especially an energetic Carlos who already had planned out the rainy day indoors. She sent them out to eat breakfast elsewhere so that they wouldn't wake the tired kids. She knew there was nothing going on between them, each of the boys loved Katie like a sister, it was something that had been established only a short time after they had all become friends. The dark circles under their eyes indicated to her that they need the rest and comfort that the couch and each other provided.

For now everything was peaceful. Everyone in the Palm Wood was most likely still asleep and it wouldn't be until later in the afternoon that Carlos would do anything dangerous. For now Logan and Katie would sleep peacefully for the first time in weeks. When they finally woke to the sun peeking out through the clouds and Carlos yelling joyfully as he ran out to the pool, they would feel more refreshed than they had in weeks.

And when the day ended and it was finally time to go back to sleep, neither Katie nor Logan were scared of what terrors the night might bring, because something told them that there would be no terrors that night. And that was the only thing they could ask for.

**A/N:**

***This is actually based off what I do. I can't sleep during a thunderstorm and usually end up doing housework.**

**I'm really bad at endings. To explain all the stories with storms...Yeah, we had like two weeks of continuous storms. I can't sleep during storms and ideas just seem to pop into my head. I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to review, I promise I do not bite and neither does that button down there.**


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